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Would you be able to dream something big for yourself to achieve in ten years?” “Sure.” “Okay, then that is your long-range goal.
And then a short-range goal for a year or two out.
Set the goal and work backward. It is simple really.”
“Just decide what you want to do and then get started. That is one of the most powerful lessons in life.”
“These words have come from Mr. Davis’s mouth on more than one occasion: ‘We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.’ Very important words are those, Michael.”
There is one certainty, and that is that the end of your life will come, and sooner than you want. I am an old man now, and I am amazed by how fast life has gone by. For me, it is almost over. Luckily, I have lived well. I have done almost everything I desired. Yet,
Charlie continued, “days are expensive. When you spend a day, you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.”
“And that is exactly the time-management trap that most people get into. They spend their time on the urgent rather than the important. The urgent is a tyrant of a master that enslaves you if you let it. It is better to be the master of time rather than vice-versa. It is important to be the designer of our lives.
“Michael, if you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you will fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you?” “What?” “Not much,” Charlie said with a broad grin on his face. “That’s for sure,” Michael said with a subtle laugh.
This moment is great
“Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high.”
“Let’s see.... How about this one: Surround yourself with the best.”
Mr. Davis says that you must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What effect are they having on me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And, most importantly, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay?”
“Well, they have a tremendous affect on you. Let’s take a look at them. Tell me about your three closest friends.”
‘golden handcuffs,’
Michael, I know this is a touchy subject, and so many of us have friends who are nice people, often who intend well, but if the effect they have on us is negative, then it is up to us to make those tough choices in an effort to protect ourselves from the wrong influences.”
“It is simple, really. You place every person you meet into one of three categories: disassociation, limited association, and expanded association.
Ask yourself what amount of time with each person will challenge you to become the kind of person you want. If the answer is eliminating the time you spend, then you need to consider disassociating with them.
Charlie continued. “All along the path of life, you had points where you could have chosen to develop new relationships. You still can. Successful people look for relationships with other successful people who will push them, challenge them, and encourage them to become better.”
Mr. Davis says all of the time. He says, ‘To attract attractive people you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract.’ ”
The more successful you become, the more successful the people you will be able to be in relationship with.
“And do you know what happens when you begin to hang around and associate with more successful people?” “What?”
“A few things. First of all, you open yourself up to all sorts of new knowledge. Knowledge about how the world works, how business works, how to better your relationships. Second, you open yourself up to a vast new network. Their friends become your friends. Soon, your whole business and sphere of influence has changed for the better. And lastly, and most importantly, your attitude changes. And ninety-nine percent of life is attitude, Michael.”
Mr. Davis always says, ‘Attitude is greatly shaped by influence and association.’
“It is simple, really. Who you hang around with will be a major determining factor in what your attitude becomes. Think about it. You spend time with them and share your life with them. And when you interact with them, all of your attitudes intermingle and shape one another. If the people you spend time with don’t have attitudes that are positive, they will rub off on you and keep you from becoming all that you can be.”
“Michael, leaving people behind is hard, I know. I have had to do it myself. But I like to think of it this way: Life is a long journey, and we meet people all along the way. Some of those people will go the whole journey with us. Some will only take portions of the journey with us. Some will join us for a long time. Others will come and go.
“Yes, ready. Mr. Davis says that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
“Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.”
“It isn’t that you don’t learn good things in college—you do—it is just that it isn’t what will make you successful in life. Here is what Mr. Davis says: ‘Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.’ You can graduate from your formal education—and the masses do—but the great writer Thoreau said that the masses ‘lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.’ And that, it seems, is exactly where you are right now.”
Henry David Thoreau—I’m
“Michael, Mr. Davis says, ‘If someone is going down the wrong path, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. He needs education to turn him around. Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning are where the miracle process all begins.’
“You are kidding me, right?” “No. I haven’t read a book in years.” “Well, there you go—that right there is a significant part of the problem.”
Michael asked, “What’s the big deal about books? It seems like everybody writes a book. It’s just a big money- making scam. What can you learn from a book anyway—and besides that, books cost so much money. When you go to the bookstore, some of those books are twenty or thirty bucks.”
Mr. Davis, a man who has been extraordinarily successful, always says that, ‘It isn’t what the book costs. It’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.’
You open yourself to new ideas, and new ideas are the seeds that grow in our hearts and minds, and when applied, become our achievements and successes.
Michael, how will you ever grow and expand if you aren’t consistently and proactively pursuing knowledge and ideas that will move your life forward?”
Books
Book
1. The Bible 2. How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler 3. My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers 4. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen 5. Seeds of Greatness by Denis Waitley 6. Seasons of Life by Jim Rohn 7. The Pursuit of God by Acden W. Tozer 8. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill 9. Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peal 10. Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz 11. Greatest Salesman that Ever Lived by Og Mandino 12. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 13. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 14. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 15. Acres of
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Michael looked at the book lying on the passenger seat. Okay, I guess it’s time to think big.
“One key to having influence with others is to have others perceive you as a person of talent and virtue.”
He was getting addicted to this personal-development stuff.
“I know you don’t have a lot of time today, Michael, but I want to share with you two more of Mr. Davis’s Pillars of Success. The first is about sales and the second is about money.”
“That’s okay, Michael. Anyone can get better at sales if they apply themselves.
The first thing to realize is that everything is sales. And to better understand it, to give a broader application of this principle, it is better to understand sales as the concept of influence.”
“Yes. You see, Mr. Davis says that influence is the key to a successful life. Anyone who wants to succeed must learn the art and skill of influencing others. When they do that, they will be successful.”
“You see, all of life is lived with other people, not in a vacuum. When you need to succeed, it is usually dependant upon working with or through other people.
